Mrs Crawford’s husband, Brody, told nine.com.au he was standing next to her when the tragic incident happened.

“I was standing right next to her. She was talking about her father, laughing and sharing some funny stories and I just saw this person walk up and pour fuel on the fire,” he said.

Mrs Crawford, with her husband Brody and a diagram of her injuries. The striped sections indicate Mrs Crawford's burns and the crosses are where the skin was grafted. (Photo: Brody Crawford) (Supplied)

“The fire just raged and her legs caught alight. It was horrifying. Her stockings were melting to her legs. They’re images that I will never get out of my mind."

Mr Crawford said he could hear his wife screaming and “everything you could imagine if you were feeling yourself burning”.

“I was trying to put her jacket out and it was just a nightmare,” he said.

“It felt like 10 minutes that she was on fire but it was probably 10 seconds.”

Mrs Crawford was rushed in an ambulance to The Alfred Hospital where she is still being treated for third degree burns to her legs, bottom and back.

Last week, doctors at the hospital’s burns unit operated on Mrs Crawford, performing skin grafts by taking undamaged tissue from her thighs and upper back.

Mr Crawford said his wife was in excruciating pain for the first week and was expected to remain in hospital for another three weeks.

Laticia Crawford, with her son Jonah and husband Brody. (Photo: Brody Crawford) (Supplied)

The incident had been deeply traumatic for his wife and the whole family, he said.

“Laticia didn’t even get time to grieve for her father, who died quite suddenly. And she is now dealing with this pain in hospital,” he said.

“She still rings me at night sometimes after I have left the hospital, crying and saying she is trying to go to sleep and that she can smell herself burning.”

He said his wife, who owns and runs a flower shop in Mudgee, was a loving and giving person.

“She is just a beautiful person. She is somebody that everybody looks up to,” he said.

“Her whole family looks up to her, she is the core strength of our family. And that’s what’s going to get her through this. She has taught us how to be so strong and she is so strong.”

Mrs Crawford had no chance to grieve for her father before she was injured, Mr Crawford said. (Photo: Brody Crawford) (Supplied)

He said three of his wife’s children from a previous relationship, aged in their late teens and early twenties, were deeply upset after seeing their mother catch alight.

The couple’s seven-year-old son, Jonah, had been standing with them at the fire pit minutes earlier, but his sister had thankfully just taken him for a walk, he said.

Apart from some minor burns sustained by Mr Crawford on his hands, no-one else was injured.

Mr Crawford said the person who poured fuel onto the fire was not well known to the family, and was an acquaintance of Mrs Crawford’s late father.

“I still don’t understand it why he did it. It was one of the stupidest things I have seen especially with people standing so close to the fire,” he said.

Werribee Police confirmed to nine.com.au they had attended the scene. After an investigation, the incident was deemed not suspicious.

Friends have set up an online fundraiser for the family, to allow them to travel back and forth the ten hours from Mudgee to be with Mrs Crawford, and also raise money for her ongoing treatment and time off work.